Sun editor freed after arrest

Sun newspaper editor Rebekah Wade has been released from custody following her arrest for allegedly assaulting her EastEnders star husband Ross Kemp, police said today.

Ms Wade was arrested shortly after 4am today at her home in Battersea, south London.

She was taken in for questioning to a south London police station but has been released with no further action.

It is understood that Ms Wade had met up with former Cabinet minister David Blunkett last night, following his resignation as Work and Pensions Secretary.

Film crews and dozens of photographers gathered outside Wandsworth police station today.

Kemp sustained a cut to the mouth but is understood to have declined medical aid.

The couple married in Las Vegas in June 2002.

PR guru Max Clifford, a friend of Ms Wade, said: "They have a very good marriage and have both been very successful.

"Rebekah does have a very strong personality but she's not volatile, she just stands up for herself. If something happened, she would have been pushed to it."

He suggested it may all be a publicity stunt.

Ms Wade, 37, first worked for the French magazine Architecture Aujourd'hui in Paris, before returning to Britain to work for the Messenger Group.

She joined the News of the World in 1989 and rose quickly through the ranks. She was made feature writer for its Sunday magazine, before eventually becoming the paper's deputy editor.

In 1998 she transferred to The Sun, to become its deputy editor, before returning to the News of the World in 2000 as editor.

At the time, she was the youngest editor of a British national newspaper.

While at the News of the World, Ms Wade oversaw its controversial campaign of "naming and shaming" convicted paedophiles, after the murder of Sarah Payne. The paper's sales rose under her leadership.

In January 2003, she moved back to The Sun, replacing her former boss David Yelland, to become its first female editor.

Kemp, 41, is best known for his role as EastEnders hard man Grant Mitchell, a part he played for 10 years before quitting in 1999.

He moved to ITV for a reported £1.2 million and starred in a number of dramas before making a long-awaited return to the BBC soap last week along with his on-screen brother Phil, played by Steve McFadden.